Spa
medicine or balneology has a long tradition throughout Europe
including Israel and Japan
and has been used predominantly for chronic diseases. Yet despite its
popularity among patients in Europe, this therapy is still largely unknown
in the United States and Canada. Medical spas in Europe utilize bona fide
spa therapy which embraces the principles of balneology. Patients and
physicians in the USA are not aware of the history and medical application
of spas because the research that was actively pursued in the United States
under the direction of Dr. Walter McClellan at Saratoga Spa abruptly ended
in the early 1950s.

dermatology - The branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of skin diseases.
hydrotherapy - External use of water in the medical treatment of certain diseases.
balneophototherapy - combines bath water delivery of water soluble photosensitizers or antiinflammatory agents for example 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) or different salt solutions with a subsequent UVB- or UVA-irradiation.

This
website attempts to provide information about balneotherapy and the research
that is being conducted in this field of medicine. Although the contents
are geared mainly toward health care professionals, hopefully it will
appeal to everyone who is interested in health. This website does not
endorse balneotherapy for patients because such a decision should be made
strictly between patients and their personal physicians. This website
does not offer medical advice and although it includes interesting links,
it will not be held liable for the contents and opinions expressed by
other website links unless specifically expressed in writing.

To
learn more about medical hydrology, please check the archives of articles (Download in PDF) under the menu "Spa procedures."
Please review the menu under "Collaboration"
of all research centers interested in conducting clinical trials with
United States and increase American's knowledge about balneology.

Extensive
researches have been conducted in spa medicine and the medical literatures
on the medicinal use of balneotherapy are now available on the medical hydrology
database- free and open-access for the scientific community. Welcome
to the Spa Medicine Database.

As
evidence-based spa medicine becomes important, clinical trials conducted
in medical hydrology will soon be available to the scientific community through
the Trial Registry- free trial registry. Welcome
to the Spa Medicine Trial Registry.